We have updated our cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you
the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and advertising. Such third party
cookies may track your use of this site.

New web portal opens for 5G experimenters

The FCC, in partnership with NYU and the University of Colorado Boulder, makes it simpler to test new devices and mobile applications

Got a fantastic, futuristic 5G wireless application you need to try out, but you need an FCC license to start testing? It’s about to get easier to get a program experimental license, thanks to a new web portal announced days ago by the FCC, in partnership with NYU and the University of Colorado Boulder.

The idea is to make it simpler for research labs, universities, manufacturers and others to obtain the necessary permission to test new devices, while also ensuring that existing services aren’t impacted by testing.

Licenses should be issued within 15 days in most case. The first 5G testing license issued through the new system went to NYU Wireless, a research center based at the university’s Tandon School of engineering.

“The license will allow the center to do cutting-edge work throughout the spectrum, not just at frequencies critical to 5G, but also far beyond,” said NYU Professor Theodore Rappaport. “The efficiency and transparency of the new FCC experimental program portal will aid institutions like ours -- as well as governmental spectrum holders and corporations-- to accelerate experimentation of new systems and devices that will eventually become part of our interconnected world.”

The FCC also noted that the new system allows for the creation of innovation zones, or pre-set geographic areas that can be designated for experimental use.